So what's the big issue with accommodation then ?
I'll try and explain why it's so difficult for foreigners to rent in France.
1) the law forbids evictions during the colder months of the year, so apparently sometimes students don't pay their rent knowing they can't be evicted till April anyway...
2) the law permits landlords to put a stop on tenants' or guarantors' salaries to get their rent...
3) you can only put a stop on a salary paid in France by a French company
so people who intend to pay their rent from an overseas company or with money that comes from overseas are immediately a less secure proposition than a French student with a parent on a decent salary.
In order to rent a place you have to submit a dossier. Typically this will include the latest tax return and three months' payslips (either yours or your guarantor's).
If the dossier is accepted you then pay a fee to the agency (perhaps one month's rent) plus a deposit on the flat (typically one month's rent).
Often dossiers are rejected and frankly our dossier stinks because we are paid from Britain. Some agents just refuse to even talk about places to rent with us.
The best opportunity is through agencies that already know us - those who took a chance in the past and know that we are good tenants. That means the agency through which Fiona and the Griffins' place is rented or the agency that handles the student centre. Narrows the field a bit !
That's one reason why we need prayer for accommodation.
The other is that it's expensive. The place we looked at yesterday is great - but it is essentially a medium sized bedroom with a platform built for sleeping on, a little kitchen unit under the bed platform and a partitioned off shower room at the back. It's lovely - clean, tidy, practical, great for study, sleeping and living - and it's 400 euros a month. But there's two other dossiers being submitted to the landlord.
1) the law forbids evictions during the colder months of the year, so apparently sometimes students don't pay their rent knowing they can't be evicted till April anyway...
2) the law permits landlords to put a stop on tenants' or guarantors' salaries to get their rent...
3) you can only put a stop on a salary paid in France by a French company
so people who intend to pay their rent from an overseas company or with money that comes from overseas are immediately a less secure proposition than a French student with a parent on a decent salary.
In order to rent a place you have to submit a dossier. Typically this will include the latest tax return and three months' payslips (either yours or your guarantor's).
If the dossier is accepted you then pay a fee to the agency (perhaps one month's rent) plus a deposit on the flat (typically one month's rent).
Often dossiers are rejected and frankly our dossier stinks because we are paid from Britain. Some agents just refuse to even talk about places to rent with us.
The best opportunity is through agencies that already know us - those who took a chance in the past and know that we are good tenants. That means the agency through which Fiona and the Griffins' place is rented or the agency that handles the student centre. Narrows the field a bit !
That's one reason why we need prayer for accommodation.
The other is that it's expensive. The place we looked at yesterday is great - but it is essentially a medium sized bedroom with a platform built for sleeping on, a little kitchen unit under the bed platform and a partitioned off shower room at the back. It's lovely - clean, tidy, practical, great for study, sleeping and living - and it's 400 euros a month. But there's two other dossiers being submitted to the landlord.
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